蜜柚直播

The City Council on Tuesday voted to designate the 1968 concrete-block house by architect and educator W. Kirby Lockard, who lived there until 1978 and died in 2007.

鈥淲hen you drive up to this house, it definitely stands out,鈥� said Demion Clinco, CEO of the 蜜柚直播 Historic Preservation Foundation. 鈥淚t鈥檚 definitely a modernistic expression of architecture. It鈥檚 highly distinctive.鈥�

The foundation nominated the property as a city landmark in February with the help and support of its then-owners, Gary and Ava Blank, who bought the place in 2011.

Ava Blank said she was drawn to the home even before she knew all of its rich history.

鈥淚 knew it was impressive. I knew it was incredibly unique. I didn鈥檛 know all the details,鈥� she said.

Blank spent the next nine years learning about the man who designed the house as she renovated it using Lockard鈥檚 own drawings, which she said included details right down to where he planned to put the furniture.

Lockard taught at UA for more than 40 years, and published a number of books on the art and science of architectural illustration. Clinco said Lockard was well-known far beyond 蜜柚直播 for his drawings.

The modern-looking two-story home he designed for himself on Lind Road, near Fort Lowell Road and 蜜柚直播 Boulevard, is an example of Brutalist architecture, a postwar movement that first emerged from Great Britain in the 1950s.

The form is characterized by angular geometric shapes and bare building materials 鈥� usually exposed concrete or brick 鈥� with monochromatic colors and little adornment.

Clinco said many civic buildings were built in the Brutalist style during the middle of the 20th century, including Pima Community College鈥檚 West Campus on Anklam Road and the Mathematics Building and library at the University of 蜜柚直播.

Style goes from villain to hero

Brutalist houses are much harder to find. 鈥淚 think there are just a very, very small handful of homes in 蜜柚直播 that are built in this style,鈥� Clinco said.

Brutalism eventually fell out of favor after critics labeled it as cold and soulless, even linking it to totalitarian regimes like the Soviet Union.

In the movies, Clinco said, 鈥渢he supervillain鈥檚 lair is often a concrete, Brutalist structure.鈥�

The style has enjoyed something of a renaissance in recent years, thanks in part to an effort to rebrand it as 鈥淗eroic architecture.鈥�

Lockard鈥檚 best-known design 鈥� and a striking example of the Brutalist aesthetic in 蜜柚直播 鈥� is the Dove of Peace Lutheran Church on Rollercoaster Road just west of Oracle Road, Clinco said. Lockard 鈥渨on a number of awards鈥� for the design.

The architect鈥檚 house on Lind Road is a sort of companion piece, Clinco said. 鈥淭here鈥檚 a real connection between those two properties.鈥�

The house sits on a 1-acre lot in the Richland Heights Neighborhood, which was at the edge of town when it was subdivided in 1926. Advertisements at the time touted it as a place 鈥渢o establish a country home with city conveniences.鈥�

New designation comes with teeth

Blank said the neighborhood eventually attracted quite a few university professors, Lockard among them.

After living in his creation, Lockard sold the house in 1978 to Jack DeBartolo, another accomplished architect with whom he had collaborated. DeBartolo added his own modernist touches: a garage and a guesthouse that have since, in Clinco鈥檚 words, 鈥渁chieved significance in their own right.鈥�

Only a dozen other 蜜柚直播 structures have been listed as landmarks by the city, and only a few of those are homes. Securing such a designation is 鈥渧ery costly and complicated,鈥� Clinco said.

And unlike the National Register of Historic Places, which largely encourages preservation through tax abatements, city landmark status comes with a zone change and some real teeth, he said.

Any major changes to the house on Lind will now be subject to review by the 蜜柚直播-Pima County Historical Commission.

Demolition of the structure would require approval from the mayor and council, Clinco said.

The city鈥檚 designation could also help the house win national landmark status someday, if the new owners decide to pursue that.

Old house gets new owners

The Blanks recently sold the property and moved into a place on the east side that needs nothing done to it.

Ava Blank said securing historic status for the old house was a kind of parting gift to a property they poured so much work into.

鈥淚t was the most beautiful place to spend quarantine in,鈥� she said.

The Blanks got several offers when they listed the house, including one from someone who wanted to turn it into a vacation rental and another from a developer with dreams of splitting up the large lot.

Instead, the Blanks sold to a family that had lived in a historic home before and seemed eager to preserve this one.

Blank is happy to leave the place in good hands. As far as she鈥檚 concerned, there is nothing brutal about the Kirby Lockard house.

鈥淢y family called it the magical house,鈥� Blank said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 anything but cold.鈥�